Raising the Bar

Striving to do better is a hallmark of Phil Donley’s approach to learning.

A football injury in his sophomore year of high school propelled Phil from athlete to equipment manager, and eventually into his future profession.

“It’s a visual I can still see clearly today,” he says. “The West Virginia University athletic trainer finished examining my buddy’s knee and I thought, ‘I want to learn how to do that.’”

When Phil stepped on campus in 1965 as a faculty member, West Chester only offered teacher education. He accepted the challenge of expanding the curriculum, which included a nine-week summer program open to other schools.

“I want to do things that other people don’t know how to do, and I treat my patients that way — I keep looking for better ways to do things.”

In 1966, Phil hired Virginia Forsyth, a physical therapist and WCU graduate who may have been the first full-time faculty and staff athletic trainer in the country.

In the 1971-72 academic year, he established the first academic program for athletic trainers in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Under Phil’s leadership, West Chester became home to the first co-educational facility for student-athletes in the country.

“The example Phil set is still seen today in the modeling of involvement between faculty and students at different levels of the organization, advocacy for the profession, and the delivery of quality healthcare,” says Scott Heinerichs, Dean of the College of Health Sciences.

Now celebrating 50+ years, graduates and friends of the program and current and former faculty have donated over $79,000 to rename a portion of the soon-to-be-renovated space in the Sturzebecker Health Science Center in Phil’s honor.

“I think it’s important that current and prospective students see what graduates have done statewide, and nationally,” Phil says. “And how this program provided the foundation for their work in the field.”